If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Network Traffic Smoothing Software PSPacer 1.0 Released

Don't think this has anything to do with security ( or maybe it does )...so...I thought I'd throw it here...
probably old news to most of you but it's the first time I read it...and I'm sure it'll be new to others too..

The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST,), an independent administrative institution, has released software PSPacer 1.0 for accurate network bandwidth control and traffic smoothing. PSPacer 1.0 realizes accurate bandwidth control and smoothing on the ordinary personal computer (PC) based on the Linux operating system (OS) without requiring special purpose hardware. The PSPacer 1.0 suppresses bursty traffic, improves the efficiency of long-distance wide-bandwidth communications through the internet and contributes to improving the quality of stream delivery.

With the PSPacer 1.0, it is possible to provide bandwidth control and smoothing for each of 100 or more connections by use of ordinary PC. In case of gigabit Ethernet, the transmission bandwidth can be set for a range from 8 kbps to 930 Mbps for each of IP communication connections, and the packet transmission interval can be controlled at an accuracy of time for 1-byte data transmission in accordance with the bandwidth.

The PSPacer 1.0 is installed as a loadable kernel module for the Linux platform, to be ready for being introduced independent of the device driver. After the installation of the PSPacer 1.0, all that's required is to specify (1) the packet allocation rule with IP address and port No., (2) the communication interface for bandwidth control and smoothing and (3) the allocated maximum bandwidth. Applications to use the network are not required to be changed. The software also supports IPv6.

With the PSPacer 1.0, variations in transmission bandwidth are kept at the minimum level, and the possibility of buffer overflow is reduced. For this reason, it is possible to drastically augment the utilization efficiency of the network physical bandwidth.

The PSPacer 1.0 can be effectively used for the following applications.

1. Long-distance wide-bandwidth TCP/IP communications: In the TCP/IP, which is widely used in the internet communications, the maximum volume of data to be transmitted is controlled in accordance with roundtrip time. For this reason, bursty traffic may easily occur in the long-distance network where the latency is large. With the PSPacer 1.0, it is possible to utilize 90 % or more of network bandwidth even in the intercontinental communications with very large latency.
2. Multiple communications through one-and-same path: When multiple traffics are carried through one-and-same path in the network as in case of stream delivery, it may occur that bursty traffics in each of communications are summed up readily going beyond the available bandwidth. With the PSPacer 1.0, each traffic does not surpass the setup bandwidth making it possible to utilize the network bandwidth to the maximum extent.